Shooter's Bible Guide to Combat Handguns

INTRODUCTION

The Shooter’s Bible has been a comprehensive resource for shooting enthusiasts for almost ninety years. Competitive shooters, hunters, weekend plinkers, and those who keep a pistol in their nightstand for protection, to name just a few, all have come to trust the Shooter’s Bible as a source of valuable information. This, the first edition of the Shooter’s Bible Guide to Combat Handguns, contains the most up-to-date information on combat and defensive handguns, training and defensive ammunition, handgun ballistics, tactical and concealment holsters, accessories, and training facilities. Throughout these pages are many well-known products that have been called into harm’s way and literally battle and field tested. Others products are new and not yet proven, but are fresh takes on designs that employ the use of new materials and leverage technology. The new product section offers the very latest in all categories.

To write a book on combat handguns, especially on the 100th year anniversary of Colt’s Model O, or more commonly referred to as the 1911, is a privilege. The pistol is legendary. It was adopted in 1911—hence the name—and has been in service with our armed forces ever since. Officially the Beretta 92 replaced the 1911 in 1985, but replaced is probably not the correct word. Old ways die hard in the military, especially old ways that work well. Some special forces units still use the 1911, but the 1911 they carry today is by no means your great-grandfather’s pistol. Today’s 1911 sports lowered and flared eject ports, beavertail-grip safeties, ambidextrous and extend thumb safeties, magazine well funnels, forward slide serrations, big visible sights, polished feed ramps—and that’s just the short list of features on a modern 1911.

You will find in the handgun section not only 1911 manufacturers (and there are a lot of them), but also the usual suspects—Glock, Beretta, CZ, Heckler & Koch, Sig, Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Walther—as well as other lesser known gun makers who offer viable options for defensive handguns. Some designs hark back to the late 19th century with double barrels and spur triggers, like derringers from Bond and American Derringer, and tiny rimfire revolvers such as those from North American Arms. These designs may be old, but the techniques and materials used in the manufacturing are thoroughly modern. I suspect Wild Bill Hickok or Doc Holliday would take a liking to these 21st-century derringers. Or perhaps they’d take a look at the latest trend in handguns, highly concealable pocket pistols. Not that pocket pistols are new—they have been around since the early 1900s, with Fabrique Nationale creating the Baby Browning back in 1905 and Walther’s Model 1 debuting in 1908. Today’s manufacturers have redefined semi-automatic pocket pistols. Relative newcomers to firearm manufacturing, such as Kahr and Kel-Tec, have picked up where FN and Walther left off, and currently build pocket pistols that offer a nice compromise between weight and firepower. SeeCamp, Ruger, Taurus, Rohrbaugh, Masterpiece Arms, and others have picked up on the popularity of these mouse guns and produce their own versions in a variety of calibers. The original Baby Browning manufactured by FN was chambered in .25 ACP, but today’s pocket pistol calibers range from .380 to .45 ACP.

At the other end of the spectrum are pistols from PTR, Sig, and Bushmaster. These pistols are essentially combat rifles modified to pistol size by removing the stock and shortening the barrel. They are chambered in .308 and 5.56mm/.223 and are not subtle about their ability to bring firepower to a gun fight. Obviously nostalgia is endemic in firearm manufacturing. Old-timers like the Thompson pistol with 50-round drum magazine would make a G-man like Melvin Purvis grin. A replica of a 1943 Polish-made machine pistol design, PPS-43C, manufactured to comply with current gun laws by I.O. Inc., seems like a relic from the Cold War. The Mac 10 design couples ease of manufacture with firepower, and the compliant models from Masterpiece Arms are civilian versions of this classic weapon. And yes, there are new 1911s that are built the same way as they were in 1911 when they were shipped from the Colt factory. Some will even eject dented .45 cases just like originals. Para USA, Springfield Armory, and even Colt offer retro styling that your great-grandfather would recognize. Other designs, like the Sig P210, which was the Swiss Army’s sidearm from 1949 to 1975, are renowned for their classic lines and exceptional accuracy. Since 1899, Smith & Wesson has produced some six million Military & Police or Model 10 revolvers, a testament to its enduring design.

As nostalgic or archaic as the revolver may be—Samuel Colt carved the prototype out of wood in 1832 on a sea voyage—it is a fighting weapon. At the battle of Bandera Pass in 1841, a few Texas Rangers held off a slew of Comanches with the very first revolver, the Colt Paterson. The firepower that these five-shot guns brought to the battle was decimating. From there revolvers evolved into six-shooters, and as metallic cartridges became more reliable and commonplace, revolvers adapted to the new cartridges. Revolvers progressed from single-action, gate-loaded six-shooters through to double-action break-tops until finally settling on the swing-out cylinder. There is something to be said of a design that can handle calibers from .17 HRM up through the .500 S&W. Brands like Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Charter Arms, and Taurus have recently redefined the wheelgun with the use of polymers and alloys and added new technology. Taurus offers a polymer frame, while Ruger and S&W use lightweight alloys. These brands have also mashed up or integrated the 18th-century design with the latest high-tech laser sights. The latest trend is gargantuan revolvers chambered to fire shotgun shells or cartridge rounds interchangeably. It is rumored that Yosemite Sam traded in his six-shooters for a pair of one of these .45 Long Colt/.410 gauge uber revolvers.

But back to the usual suspects, these are combat handguns that were designed for military and LE use. Some have been game changers, such as Glock, with its striker-fire action, polygonal rifling, and polymer frame. Glock was not the first manufacturer to use polymers in the manufacturing of pistols, but the company came to market at the right time, with the right product. Their market share speaks for itself, and some established gunmakers who reeled at the thought of polymer handguns now offer their own striker-fired, polymer-framed pistols. This is not to say traditional metal-frame pistols with single- and double-action triggers are being decommissioned and sent to surplus retailers. Beretta, Sig, and most 1911 manufacturers all employ metal frames and all have their own philosophy on how a pistol should operate. There is no one correct solution, but many options. What the newer and traditional pistols have in common are calibers. Rounds like the 9mm, .357 Sig, .40 S&W, 10mm, and .45 ACP are proven performers and are strictly business. Any one of these calibers is a good choice for a defensive caliber.

In the ammunition section are the different types of cartridges available for training and defense. Bullet design, like handgun design, has evolved and continues to push the envelope on technology. Frangible bullets, such as the NyTrilium Handgun Round from Extreme Shock or CorBon’s Blue and Silver Glaser Safety Slugs, literally disintegrate on contact and protect bystanders. Other bullet designs, like hollow points, have become more dependable and expand at a range of velocities and in different target materials. Names such as Federal’s Hydra-Shok, Speer’s Gold Dot, and Remington’s Golden Saber are the latest in hollow-point design. Some hollow points aren’t so hollow any more, either. Hornady’s Critical Defense ammo uses their FTX bullet, and CorBon’s Pow’R Ball either fills the opening with a pliable material or a polymer ball, respectively. Federal’s Guard Dog brand encases a soft polymer in a thin metal jacket designed to expand without over penetrating. Ammo is also going green, meaning it is lead free and non-toxic; important especially if your training takes place indoors where fumes may be an issue.

The ballistics section provides factory data on many training and defensive calibers and compares muzzle velocity and energy head-to-head. Military and LE agencies chose to use calibers like the 9mm, .357 Sig, .40 S&W, 10mm, and .45 ACP because the data and real-life case studies prove these calibers perform in gun fights. The trend in calibers like the .380 cannot be ignored and is included here, as are other calibers that are not so much less popular but used less, including the .32 ACP, .44 Special, and .45 GAP.

The holster section looks at a cross section of manufacturers. Some, like Bianchi, DeSantis, Galco, and Safariland, have been in the gun-leather business for decades. But gun leather has almost become a misnomer. Fobus and BladeTech are just two brands that construct holsters out of injection-molded polymer or thermal-molded Kydex, respectively, to produce holsters that in some instances outperform old-fashioned horse hide. Other manufacturers, such as Cross Breed Holsters, are newcomers and offer hybrid holsters that combine leather and Kydex. There are virtually dozens of types of holsters and carry methods, from horizontal shoulder holsters a la Miami Vice to belt, paddle, clip-on, small-of-the-back, inside waistband, ankle, and pocket. One trend with holsters is the ability to tuck in a shirt over the weapon, so a gun is virtually invisible to untrained and unsuspecting eyes. With practice, a weak hand full of shirt tail, and a strong hand draw, a weapon can come into play almost as quickly as a less concealed carry option.

Bad things don’t usually happen at high noon, they occur in the shadows and at night. Some accessories available to handgun shooters are designed to enlighten an otherwise dark and potentially lethal situation. Flashlights from the likes of SureFire and StreamLight can place a beam of light with surgical precision on any situation, and with most handgun manufacturers building in Picatinny rails on their pistols frames, the merging of weapon and light source combine to serve a specific purpose. Shooters can also hang laser sights, like those from Viridian, off a weapon’s accessory rails or integrate the laser into the weapon’s mechanism. LaserMax swaps a stock guide rod for a guide rod that contains a laser beam sight. Crimson Trace offers a simple solution that replaces the weapon’s stock grip or attaches to the trigger guard. Laser sight systems bring a new meaning to the term light show, and allow shooters to project a red or green laser dot to aim in situations where normal open sights cannot be used.

Finally the section on training is where a shooter can bring it all together and learn how to effectively use a weapon, holster, and ammunition. The best advice I ever received from a firearms instructor was to run away and avoid a potential gunfight. Clint Smith, from Thunder Ranch, continued to say that if you can’t get away from the bad guys and are forced to fight, here’s what you need to know to survive and live to tell about it. Military and LE personnel are constantly training, refining skills, and learning new skill sets. The conceal-carry individual has a responsibility to acquire the skills necessary to be safe and win a gunfight quickly. The list of individuals and facilities offering training is staggering. Local instructors can provide all the necessary instruction to obtain a conceal-carry permit, while others, like the late Jeff Cooper’s Gunsite facility, up the training to a higher level and different mindset. An investment in a course at one of these facilities or any other reputable and qualified training facility is critical to efficient and effective gun handling.

We have the right to protect our family, home, friends, and neighbors, and there are those who will do us wrong and invade our homes, our work place, and our space. It is my intent that readers with combat handgun experience, like military and law enforcement personnel, as well as private citizens who choose to conceal carry, plus those who are new to firearms, will find the information in this book valuable. Choose your weapon carefully and train with it often.

Exigo a me non ut optimis par sim, sed ut malis melior—I require myself not to be equal to the best, but to be better than the bad. (Seneca)

Robert A. Sadowski

East Haddam, Connecticut

March 29, 2011

1. THE 1911 RENAISSANCE

A Smart Pistol Design Thrives 100 Years Later

Ideas do not usually come sequentially but snarled and knotted up together. The trick is untangling the useful threads from the not so useful. I don’t know if John Browning ever sat back from his drawing board and said eureka after finishing the design for the model 1911; I think his mind and dreams were animated with sears and levers and bushings and springs and all the other pieces that turn an idea for a firearm into an actual prototype. I suspect Browning was on to the next idea, maybe the P35 and high capacity magazine and external extractors and pivoting triggers. For certain, the 1911 design was momentous and forever changed the way firearms were designed thereafter.

The 1911 is simply defined as a single-action, semi-automatic, magazine-fed handgun chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. It has and is chambered for other calibers, but the DNA of the 1911 and .45 ACP cartridge are entwined. The 1911 mechanism is a short-recoil system. In a short-recoil pistol, the barrel and slide recoil a short distance before unlocking and separating. While the barrel stops, the slide continues rearward, compressing the recoil spring, extracting and ejecting an empty casing, scraping a cartridge out of the magazine and pushing it into the chamber, and finally travels forward so the slide and barrel lock back into battery. This short-recoil system has been the basic mechanism for most modern pistols.

This is the actual prototype #1 that Browning made and took back East to the military for demonstration. Photo courtesy Ogden Union Station Foundation. Photo credit Lee Witten.

Some ideas provide new ways to accomplish old things; some ideas are solutions to problems. The 1911 was a solution to both. The problem was the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars in the early 1900s. In the Philippines, U.S. troops were up against Moro guerrilla fighters who frequently chewed coca leaves during battle. To say the Moros were fierce in battle is an understatement. In 1902, the standard issue handgun was the Colt M1892 revolver in .38 Long Colt, which had a muzzle velocity of 770 fps with a 150-grain solid lead bullet. It lacked power to stop the juiced-up guerrillas. The Army’s solution was to bring back the Colt M1873 single-action revolver in .45 Long Colt that launched a 225-grain lead round-nose, flat-point bullet at 800 fps. The old six-shooters performed well during the Indian campaigns and there was reason to believe they would be effective in the jungles of the Philippines, too. The U.S. military’s devotion to .45 caliber handguns was set. The Thompson-LaGarde Tests (caliber tests conducted in 1904 at the Nelson Morris Company Union Stock Yards) concluded … a bullet, which will have the shock effect and stopping effect at short ranges necessary for a military pistol or revolver, should have a caliber not less than .45. The test pitted the .30 Luger, .38 Long Colt, .38 ACP, 9mm, .455 Webley, .45 Long Colt, and .476 Eley. Results firmly cemented the military’s prejudice toward .45 caliber handguns. Then President Theodore Roosevelt assigned General William Crozier, who was the Chief of Ordance, the task of finding a new sidearm for the military. The rest, as they say, is history. Gun designs were submitted for review in 1906 from major firearm manufacturers in both the United States and Europe. By the time field trials were conducted, three prototypes remained: Colt, Savage, and Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM). All pistols designed were chambered in the new .45 ACP, which had similar ballistics as the .45 Long Colt. The .45 ACP featured a 230-grain full metal jacket bullet at a speed 855 fps. When the dust settled, the Colt prototype—the John Browning design—was formally adopted by the U.S. Army on March 29, 1911. The year and pistol were to become synonymous. Officially the pistol was adopted by the Navy and Marines in 1913, and not long after adoption of the 1911 it had its baptism under fire in World War I. The trenches in France exposed a few bugs in the design. The U.S. Army wanted enhancements to the pistol. One bug in the design was the short spur of the grip safety. Soldiers with meaty hands found the 1911’s hammer prone to hammer bite–where the hammer pinches the skin of the shooter’s hand between the thumb and trigger finger. Today’s beavertail grip safeties nearly eliminate hammer bite. The 1911’s flat mainspring housing also caused soldiers to shoot low; an arched main spring housing was the solution. A shorter trigger, cutouts in the frame behind the trigger, a bigger front sight, and plastic checkered grip panels rounded out the minor tweaks, and the 1911 was designated the M1911A1. It then became standard issue and was used in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and sporadically among troops in both Gulf Wars. The U.S. government purchased about 2.7 million pistols in total. What makes the 1911 such an enduring design? It works. It works in sand, in jungles, in frigid temperatures, and in just about any other environmental hell imaginable.

A pristine example of a Model 1911. This is serial number 39 from the personal collection of Mr. Charles W. Clawson, author of the book Colt .45 Service Pistols Models of 1911 and 1911A1. Photo credit Jeff Bell.

A Colt M1911A1 reproduction (top) manufactured from 2001–2004 is true to the last U.S. government spec compared to a current Springfield Tactical Response Pistol (TRP), the civilian version of the FBI contract pistol and an excellent example of a modern 1911. Note the lowered and flared eject port of the TRP and the longer aluminum trigger. The M1911A1 had a parkerized finish that resisted corrosion better than bluing. The TRP sports a matte black proprietary Teflon coating called Armory Kote. Photo courtesy Swamp Yankee Media.

The smaller grip safety of the M1911A1 top did not provide against hammer bite as does the TRP’s extended beavertail grip safety. The TRP’s hammer provides more grip, and it has an ambidextrous extended safety lever. The TRP, like many modern 1911s, brings the rear sight as far back on the slide as possible. The notch of the rear sight is large and snag free compared to the WWII-era 1911 rear sight. The TRP sights are also Tritium 3-dot that glow in the dark. Photo courtesy Swamp Yankee Media.

During WWI, many soldiers shot the 1911 low, so an arched mainspring housing was added to the M1911A1 (right) to slightly rotate the pistol higher in a shooter’s grip. Modern 1911s like the TRPs have a flat mainspring housing and 20 lpi (lines per inch) checkering on the front strap of the grip. The M1911A1 has plain plastic checkered grips. The TRP has gritty G10 composite grips. Photo courtesy Swamp Yankee Media.

The magazine well of the TRP (top) makes fast reloads easier compared to the mil-spec 1911A1. Caution should be exercised when slamming home a magazine with the old-school lanyard ring. Photo courtesy Swamp Yankee Media.

Tighter tolerances on the bushing and barrel allow the barrel to return to the same position shot after shot, thus increasing accuracy. The solid ejector rod is the norm with the TRP (left) and many other modern 1911s. A hex wrench is required to field strip the TRP.

Civilians could, at one time, purchase any 1911 they wanted as long as it was a Colt. Where Browning and the U.S. military left off with the 1911 and M1911A1, a cadre of machinists, designers, gunsmiths, tinkerers and clever businessmen picked up and turned the early 20th-century design into one of the most modified and blatantly copied pistols the world has known. Today’s manufacturers have stretched, compacted, microsized, rechambered, and adorned the 1911 with user-friendly enhancements that were the bread-and-butter trade for many custom gunsmiths in the 1950s through the 1970s. Not only did the 1911 perform on the battle field, with a little hand fitting of parts, the 1911 is transformed into a proverbial tack driver. It is the predominant pistol in centerfire bullseye competitions. Action pistol shooters know the 1911 is the starting point for tricked-out race guns. It’s the grip angle, the trigger, the balance, and the calibers that make the 1911 a near-perfect pistol.

2. FANTASTIC PLASTICS

Polymer-Framed Pistols: Lightweight, Added Safety, and Modular

Heckler & Koch (H&K) introduced the P9S pistol in 1969 with a polymer-covered steel frame, steel slide, and a polygonal rifled barrel. It was chambered in either 9mm or .45 ACP in a single-stack magazine, employed a conventional single-action/double-action trigger system, used a decocking lever, and looked like no other handgun on the market at the time. It included features that are very common today, like the decocker, polygonal rifling, and polymer frame. A licensed variant of the P9S is still being manufactured in Greece.

It is fair to say that H&K was ahead of its time and the P9S was cutting edge, but polymer-framed pistols would not have wide spread acceptance among military, LE, and the shooting public until 1982 when the Glock 17 debuted. The Austrian government purchased the Glock 17 in that year with Norway and Sweden following shortly thereafter. Today some forty-eight countries use a variant of the Glock. In the United States, Glock pistols have a sixty-five percent market share among LE agencies. Initial response to the Glock was much like the response H&K received years early: How durable and reliable can a plastic gun be? Glock pistols have endured torture tests. They have been soaked in salt water, stuck in sludge, buried in sand, frozen in ice, dropped from helicopters, run over by vehicles, and the list goes on. Glock pistols consistently operate under the most adverse conditions. There is no question about the reliability and long life of polymer pistols.

The H&K P9S was radical in 1969 and still looks edgy. Photo courtesy of Heckler & Koch.

The Glock 17 pistol completely transformed the industry. It is eighty-six percent lighter than conventional metal-framed pistols, plus the polymer is tougher than steel and corrosion resistant. It has a magazine capacity of seventeen 9mm rounds, has a polygonal-rifled barrel that offers better ballistics than conventionally rifled barrels—though pure-lead bullets should not be fired in Glocks since the lead will quickly build up in the barrel. Even the finish is high-tech. The Tenifer finish is highly corrosion resistant, hard, and antireflective, something many manufacturers have copied. The really ingenious part of the Glock is the action. The Glock is striker fired, which means after a round is fired or the slide is racked to load a round in the chamber, the striker is in a partially cocked position. The trigger completes the cocking process and releases the striker to fire the round. What Glock did was build the safety into the trigger. When the trigger is pulled, the three safeties are disengaged—the firing pin safety is pushed upward to release the firing pin for firing, the trigger lever prevents the trigger from being inadvertently pulled, and the trigger bar is deflected at the moment the shot is triggered. There are no grip safeties, thumb safeties, decockers, or any other controls—other than a slide release.

Since the introduction of Glock pistols, other manufacturers offer polymer-framed pistols. Springfield Armory’s XD and XD(M) polymer-framed pistols have an added grip safety and a trigger that rivals a crisp single-action pistol. Ruger, Walther, Heckler & Koch, Smith & Wesson, Sig, and Steyr all have polymer-frame models. The latest trend is modular grip inserts that allow shooters to change the grip size.

Can you tell which trigger came from what manufacturer and what model?

1: Steyr, Model M40-A1; 2: Ruger SR9B; 3: S&W, M&P; 4: Springfield, XDM; 5: G, G17; 6: Walther, PPS. Photos Courtesy of manufacturers.

3. WHEN THE BULLET HITS THE GEL

FBI Ballistics Test Protocol

Since the Thompson-LaGarde Tests in 1904, there has been a quest for the optimum way to test bullet type, velocity, and stopping effect. Back then,